


Losers' first Halloween

by geeky_page



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 11:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21243356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geeky_page/pseuds/geeky_page
Summary: Pennywise is dead (at least for 27 years) and Losers prepare to celebrate their first Halloween after an evil clown fucked up their summer





	Losers' first Halloween

-You know what, I think I'll pass,-Eddie said, attracting 6 pairs of surprised eyes on him. Even Ben finally paused his very important conversation with Beverly and gave his complete attention to Kaspbrak.  
-P-p-pass? On Halloween?-Bill asked. It was the first holiday after that terrible summer, after months of scares and dangers. That day was way more than just an excuse to eat too much candy or put on a ridiculous costume. Losers were excited to finally be able to relax, go trick-or-treating and act like normal fucking kids for once. They even gathered in Bill's house to discuss their costumes and plans for Halloween.  
-Yeah. You guys do what you want, but I'm not in the mood,-no one was even sure how to react. They just starred at him with a silent question in their eyes.  
-And what will you do?-Richie asked,-Stay at home and watch...  
-Yeah!-Eddie cut him off and got to his feet,-I'll stay at home and watch movies with my mom, Richie,-he snapped. The room went silent. Even Richie had nothing to say, which was rare. Eddie sighed, picked up his stuff and left. Bill quietly closed the door after him and waited for someone (probably Richie ) to comment the situation. Eddie was silent every time the group started talking about Halloween in school or during their daily meetings, but no one paid attention to that. If that was Richie, who suddenly chose to keep his thoughts to himself, Losers would definitely notice, but for Eddie it seemed perfectly fine.  
-What? Why are you looking at me?-Richie asked and everyone looked away. Bill promised to talk to Eddie tomorrow at school and kids couldn't find anything better to do than continue planning their costumes without Kaspbrak. Except Richie got bored way too fast and costumes stood on the second place, after candy, on his Halloween list, so Tozier got on his feet, blew losers a kiss and headed home. Eddie's upset face and the way he suddenly snapped at him couldn't leave Richie's mind. After Pennnywise, Losers silently decided to never bring it all up again. Derry agreed, lost and dead kids were forgotten, broken bones mended, memories and traumas bottled up. No one wanted to talk about their possible PTSDs or nightmares. They're still just kids, they don't care about that kind of stuff. It's all over now and thank God. But as time passed it got harder and harder for some of them to pretened that nothing was wrong. Richie was almost developing a coffee addiction because nightmares didn't let him sleep properly. Eddie's fear of germs got only worse and his mom seemed to lose the last bits of her sanity. Bill had a well-hidden paranoid fear that Pennywise will come back and that it'll happen very soon. Mike found a new obsession, Derry itself. He wanted to know absolutely everything and unfortunately, Derry's history was rich with bad, horrible events. It couldn't help but hurt kids' minds, their fragile psyche. But the worst thing, they were all suffering in silence.  
-Heeey, Eds,- next morning Richie found Eddie leaving his classroom. Tozier hugged his shoulders with one arm and smiled. Eddie mumbled something like “don't fucking call me that”, but didn't push his arm away,-You're good?  
-Why shouldn't I be?-Eddie acted like nothing wrong happened last evening. Like he didn't decide to just “pass” on Halloween.  
-The hell I know,-Tozier smirked,-So?  
-If you want to talk about Halloween, you're late. Bill already brainwashed me, I'm going,-Eddie took Richie's arm away from him and stepped away,-I gotta go to class.  
-Wait,-Eddie didn't look any close to being happy or excited about his decision. Richie reached to take his hand and not let him go, but stopped himself,-If you don't wanna go, that's fine. We can do something else,-Richie offered. Memories of Bower's cousing freaking out after he suggested to play a little more were still fresh, and last thing Richie wanted was Eddie to react the same way. But Eddie was different, right? He was his friend, at least.  
-We? You don't want to go?  
-Not that much,-Richie shrugged, trying to sound and look as casual and unbothered as usual. Of course he loved Halloween and wanted to go celebrate with his friends. Once upon a time it was his favorite holiday. But if Eddie wanted him to stay with him and watch movies or whatever, he wouldn't say no. It's not their last Halloween, right?  
-Bill will be mad...,-Eddie said. Richie surprised him and for some reason he suddenly felt awkward. Eddie nodded at Tozier and rushed to his class. Well, at least Halloween was saved. 

-Where's everyone?-the Halloween was finally here. Losers were supposed to meet at Bill's place and go trick-or-treating together. But when Richie came there, he was the only one with Bill and Stan. Tozier tried to lock the growing anxiety in his chest away. Just on his way here he saw a bunch of kids dressed up as zombies or clowns. Their costumes weren't good enough to actually scare him, but it did touch the memories Richie tried to throw away from his head.  
-On their way. Where is your costume?-Richie smirked and pointed at a name tag on his chest.  
-”Original Halloween Costume”,-Stan read,-Very funny, Richie.  
-Thanks. And you guys decided to wear a pair costume. Sweet,-Richie left two blushing ghostbusters and went outside to see who else was coming. Tozier decided not to bother and spend time or money on his costume this year. Whatever he'd choose, he'll probably find a dozen kids wearing the exact same outfit. Richie's motto this year was originality and eniqueness.  
-Spaghetti, did you seriously dress up as a doctor?-Richie saw Eddie and yelled. Kaspbrak rolled his eyes, but smiled at his friend.  
-Says a person with no costume at all,-Richie rushed to show Eddie his nametag and prove him wrong. Eddie looked mildly impressed, but he'd rather kiss a zombie than admit it to Richie. They all went inside and waited for the rest of the gang to show up. Beverly came first, wearing a self-made Wonder Woman costume. It consisted of a shirt with her logo, black jeans and a cape that was made from something that once was a red curtain in Richie's house. After her, Ben showed up. He was wearing the most basic and easy costume any kid can choose, a ghost. It was just a white bedsheet with holes for eyes. Richie couldn't hold himself back, he started messing with him and didn't plan to stop for the rest of the night.  
-Who the hell are you supposed to be?-Mike came last. Losers scanned him with their eyes, but either no one could recognize his character, or no one was brave enough to suggest first.  
-Seriously? You don't know?-Mike pointed at the mask that covered only one half of his face and moved his hands in a way that confused Losers even more,-Erik? The Phantom of the Opera?  
-Boring!-Richie faked snore, but Bev told Mike that she liked his look. To be fair, it was probably the most impressive one among the group. If there was a costume contest either Mike or Bill and Stan would win.  
-Ready? Let's go!-Losers finally left Bill's house and went outside. Halloween in small american towns was a lot differnt from what was going on in the rest of the world. Everyone knew each other and every year people tried to impress the neighbors with the decorations of their houses. No one wanted to spend a lot of money though, so Derry was full of self-decorated yards and buildings. Losers walked past them, knocking to the richest ones. Bill and Stan were leading the group, Beverly followed them, talking to Bill or Ben, when he could find an excuse to speak with her. After them there was Mike and the chain was closed by Eddie and Richie, who staying close to each other, didn't even talk. Without even agreeing on it, Losers thought of this year's Halloween as just a masquerade. None of them was in a mood for scary stories or cruel pranks, not even Richie. Especially Richie. After seeing another kid jump out of the bushes, trying to scare him, Tozier already regtretted not staying at home with movies, popcorn, booze stolen from father's closet and Eddie, if possible. Maybe he just grew out of this whole Halloween thing.  
-You're so quiet, am I in heaven?-Eddie asked Richie, seeing him so deep in his thoughts. Richie looked up, smiled and shook his head.  
-Enjoy it while it lasts,-Eddie finally got Richie to talk about something. It turned out to be Mike's costume, but he didn't care. Especially since Hanlon was too far to hear them. Eddie and Richie didn't notice how they drifted away from the group. After couple minutes Richie finally relaxed. Eddie, seeing how tense he was, tried to be nice, laughed at his jokes and didn't cut him off. Richie was grateful for that and even kept all his your-mom-jokes to himself. Kaspbrak and Tozier moved across badly-decorated town together, noticing nothing but each other.  
-Gotta admit, I thought Halloween this year would suck,-Eddie said after he managed to stop laughing from Richie's another joke,-But it's fine, I guess.  
-Just fine?-Richie shook the bag in his hand. It was almost completely full of candy. Eddie chuckled and opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes froze on Richie.  
-Rich?-Tozier was looking in front of him. He dropped the bag and automatically took a step back. Richie's eyes were two times bigger than usual, his skin went pale over a second. He looked like he saw...Him,-Richie? Hey!-Eddie grabbed Richie's cold hand, but he didn't react. He just kept looking ahead of himself and his eyes started filling with tears.  
-Eds...it's...-he whispered. Eddie looked wherever Richie was looking and saw a very tall guy dressed up as a clown. He had red baloons and looked weirdly similar to their personal clown from hell. Anyone who saw him could tell that the guy put some effort into his look. He even had the same crazy smile and saw that Richie was scared of him. It only made him happy. The guy waved and smiled at Richie. That smile gave Eddie goosebumps, but he didn't allow himself to freeze too. He grabbed Richie by his shoulders and dragged him away. Away from a crazy asshole who liked scaring kids, away from bystanders pointing at them, away from the crowd, away from this whole day that was just a reminder of what they went through. Eddie should have seized his chance for a calm simple Halloween with Richie when he offered him that.  
-Richie! Richie!-Eddie and Richie hid behind some big old tree. No one could see them there. Eddie gently slapped Richie's face and soon he “woke up”. His eyes were focused again, his cheeks got a little more red. Mostly from embarrassment.  
-Are you okay?-Eddie asked. His hands were on Richie's shoulders, he tried to look into his eyes, those Tozier kept trying to hide.  
-Yeah, I'm fine, I just...,-he sighed. Richie wanted a moment alone. Tears were still chocking him and the panic still didn't let go of him completely. He felt pathetic. Like a coward. He didn't even think that Halloween would be hard for him or that it would trigger something. But it was the only thing that kept happening the whole day.  
-It's okay! It's fine,-Eddie saw how embarrassed Richie looked. He didn't know how to help him, but he wanted, needed, to do something.  
-I just...,-Richie covered his face with his hands and tried to calm down. He was still blushing and the fact that anyone could find him right now, terrified like a little kid, trying to get a hold of his tears in front of his friend, scared him only more.  
-It's okay,-Eddie hugged him, not knowing what else to do. He knew exactly what happened and didn't want to torture Richie with stupid questions like “what's wrong?” or “what happened?”. He just wanted to comfort him, the way Richie always did,-You're okay,-Eddie kept whispering untill Richie's breath got deep and calm. He was still hugging him though Richie seemed fine.  
-Thanks, Eddie. I'm sorry,-Richie mumbled. Eddie looked up at him and took one step back.  
-Do you want to go home?-he did. Richie wanted to hide in his room and let himself cry, like he did back when Bowers and his gang chased him to his house, yelling words that even Richie never used.  
-Kind of,-Richie was about to ask Eddie to tell Bill and the rest that he felt sick, but Eddie nodded and went out of the tree.  
-Let's go, then,-Eddie flashed Richie with a soft smile. Smile that said “I know what you're going through, I understand you”  
-Are you leaving too?  
-Yeah. I don't know where they all are and don't want to walk around looking for them,-Eddie shrugged,-Sleepover?  
-S-sure,-without even discussing it, Richie and Eddie headed to Tozier's house. They both knew how much Sonia Kaspbrak hated Richie. She hated all of his friends, but Richie has a special treatment. “That boy is a bad influence! He is a manace!”. Eddie let his mom talk, didn't interrupt or argue, but there was nothing she could do to keep those two apart. An evil children-killing clown tried, look where he ended up.  
-I'm choosing a movie!-Eddie jumped on Richie's bed and grabbed his movie-collection box,-Get the candy,-Richie smiled, seeing Kaspbrak all focused and went downstairs to get snacks. In the end, Halloween was his favorite holiday. Especially this year.


End file.
